• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 7, 2009

More than halfway through 2009, and the worst recession the advertising industry has seen in recent memory, a majority of media agency executives (67%) believe the economy will rebound by the end of this year, according to results of the latest in a series of quarterly surveys of 40 agencies released Thursday by media buying processing firm Strata.

Strata, which is owned by cable TV giant Comcast Corp., said four out of five of the respondents plan no more staff reductions, and 15% plan on expanding their workforce this year.

That's the encouraging news. The questionable findings include the fact that most agencies remain concerned about the prospects for their clients' ad spending, and they are beginning to alter their mix of media allocation as they struggle with the impact of the economy.

While spot TV continued as the medium more agencies were most focused on, that percentage has declined to 45% from 70% at the end of 2008. That finding, Strata noted, mirrors recent ad spending trend data, which shows local TV to be down 27% during the first quarter (TNS Media Intelligence).

Spot radio appears to be holding its own, as agencies and marketers shift to more affordable reach media to stretch their advertising dollars.

"In recent months, we have noticed an increase in advertising," Bob McCurdy, President of Katz Marketing Solutions, the national marketing arm of the Katz Media Group, was quoted in the Strata report. "Radio continues to be an affordable and efficient way to reach an advertiser's target market. And across the country, we continue to have in-depth discussions with various agencies and advertisers about how to best and most creatively utilize the medium."

Not surprisingly, print media has experienced the greatest drop in the survey, with nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents saying their focus on print will be "less than last year," a drop of 37% from the first quarter of 2009.

Also evident, was the rising role of new media, especially the Internet, with three-quarters of respondents citing online media as being more of their focus than a year ago - a 20% increase from the first quarter of 2009.

Looking broadly at all forms of "advanced advertising" or "digital media," including interactive TV, video-on-demand, etc., nearly two thirds (62.5%) of respondents said their clients were "either very likely or somewhat likely to fit Advanced Advertising into their plans this year to reach their target markets."